Eyemouth

“Mommy I’m scared, there’s a monster in the closet.”

Jessie’s crying wakes me from my light slumber and I sit up against the headboard. She stands at the foot of the bed in the blackness, and I can see the moonlight seeping in through the blinds reflected in her tiny eyes: two drops of bright mercury dancing in the otherwise dark room.

“Honey, there’s no such thing as monsters.” I say, yawning. “You be a brave girl and go back to bed okay? You’ve got school in the morning and it’s late.”

“It’s Eyemouth mommy! Eyemouth was in my room! He’s tall and skinny and covered in black fur! He has long sharp claws and I heard them dragging on the floor of my room!”

“Honey…”

“He’s got a big mouth where his face should be! And when he opened his mouth it was full of eyes! Hundreds and hundreds of eyes looking at me! He wants to eat me with his sharp teeth, Mommy! Don’t make me go back to my room! Eyemouth is in my room!”

“Jessie, there’s no such thing as monsters,” I say sternly, and sigh. “Go back to your room and go to bed. It’s just your imagination.”

Jessie heads back to bed and I lay against the warmth of the sheets. I fall asleep and awake again, to see the two beads of light in the darkness once more – the moonlight reflected in Jessie’s tiny pupils.

“Honey, are you still scared? I told you there’s no such thing as monsters.”

Slowly, the two dots of reflected light are joined by hundreds of others.